life separated from the joyfull presence of our glorified Saviour in whose face is perfect joy for evermore and if there were no further paine of sense in hell but this poena damni only this deprivation of God's presence that were a hell sufficient of it self wherunto there is added paines of sense fire eternall utter darknesse But withall this consideration of the Judgement which shewes such terrible things to the wicked brings the faithfull to another issue the blisse and heaven and everlasting salvation the comforts and joyes wherof it lyeth not in my power to declare nor in the heart of any man to conceive but there will bee the full fruition of what wee hope for here and an absolute deliverance from all those things which trouble or feare us here And yet I have not done one thing more this consderation of our end brings us to namely that wee must not end when we come to our end but there is an eternitie that attends us after-wards whether of life to salvation or of eternal confusion And this is a consideration of weight indeed I read of a good Christian in time of persecution who being condemned to die for his conscience his wife perswaded him to yeeld to the kings will and save his life why saith hee how long thinkest thou I may live if I should doe so shee answered twentie or thirtie yeares perhaps Alas saith hee and if it were so many thousand yeares what were that to eternitie O let us make use of this and consider sadly and seriously of this maine point that this thorâ— lifâ— of ours is but a moment whereupon eternitie depends and therefore it much concernes us all to listen to this wish of th Holy Ghost and to labour to bee wise and understand and consider our later end 26. Vpon the Turkies comming duly to their roost at night SEe how these silly fowles which at their owne libertie wander and feed abroad in Gardens Fields and Orchards all the day long and many times farre off from their usuall roosting places yet notwithstanding the company of other fowles of their owne kinde met abroad discovery of new places of better feeding and other enticements or impediments do ever towards Sunne-set draw themselves homewards before it be darke so to have time and daylight enough to flie up to their perches of roost where only they looke for safety and quiet in the night approaching This providence taught these sillie creatures by instinct of nature as it directly shames and condemnes some of us who when we are got abroad are easily drawne by ill company good-fellowship or other idle vanitie to deferre our comming home till we are not able to come home but must be led home like beasts or lie in a ditch by the way to the hazard of soule and body so it may bee a necessary remembrance usefull to us all that in all our worldly occasions of this life wee bethinke our selves of the Sun-setting with us I meane the houre of death which must as certainly come upon every one of us at one time or other as the Sun-setting closeth up every day that goes over our heads that like the sons and daughters of wisdome we may everyday remember that our last night is at hand and so provide to make our peace with God by Iesus Christ our only peace-maker whiles it is called to day that that night doe not surprise us or take us unprovided for it O mercifull Lord God strengthen my feeble soule by thy holy Spirit of grace that with the humble wings of true repentance and a lively faith J may before hand flie up into the Arke of my Saviours perfect righteousnes that whensoever that night shall come upon me I may bee found there in safetie and so received into thine everlasting peace Amen 27. Vpon the remove of houshold from one dwelling to another THe day appointed for this remoove was set downe many daies agoe and most of the stuffe packed up and made readie for carriage yet see how full of trouble and perplexitie the day it selfe is by taking leave of old friends and neighbours some things forgotten to bee done before some new interruptions falling out in the instant so that many times the carriages are benighted and fall short of getting to the new home in due time Wee are all in this world but sojourners and our home is not here but in Heaven for which wee should bee everyday so wise by preparing our selves that wee might not bee combred upon the day of our remoovall but to have them nothing to doe but to lift up our soules unto our Saviour the Lord Iesus and so depart in peace yet how contrary to this is the practice of many who leave all their busines to the very remoove-remoove-day the day of death not having so much as setled their outward estate or made their wils before wherby they grow so perplexed and distracted with thoughts of this world care of wife and children visitations of neighbours pangs and distresses of sicknes fear of death inward horrours and temptations aâ— makes their departure many times very discomfortable O most glorious Lord God I know not how sufficiently as I desire and ought to praise thy most holy name for thy great mercy towards me in this gentle visitation of sicknes which thy most gracious and tender hand hath laid upon me whereby I am taken off from all worldly cares and thoughts and have also of thine infinite goodnesse such gracious times and opportunities to prepare my selfe for my remove and change O let my soule for ever praise and magnifie thy holy name therefore And withall J most humbly beseech thee to stretch thy hand of mercy yet further upon me that as my body shall decay wherein I most humbly submit my selfe to thy blessed good will and pleasure my soule may be strengthened by thy powerfull spirit of grace and the good worke begun in me made more and more perfect that when this earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved my soule united by faith to my blessed Redeemer the Lord Iesus may bee then received of thee in peace through his precious merits and mediation who is our alone Saviour and peace-maker Amen 28. Vpon the casuall hearing of a verse in the new Testament read by a child AS I was to passe through the roome where my little grand-childe was set by her Grandmother to reade her mornings Chapter which fell out to bee the ninth of S. Matthews Gospell just as I came in shee was uttering those words in the second verse Jesus said to the sicke of the palsie sonne bee of good comfort thy sinnes are forgiven thee Which words sorting so fitly with my case whose whol left side is taken with that kinde of disease and whose soule desires nothing so much as such a gracious word from my Saviour I stood at a stand at the uttering of them and could not but conceive some joy and comfort in those blessed words
Christum transit in Christum By the first CHRIST becometh ours by the second we resigne our selves unto CHRIST and become his And these are the two hands of faith By the one we receive mercy from God by the other wee render son-like obedience unto him and if we believe as we ought to do that God is become our Father and do so apprehend him in Christ then ought we again to shew by our chang of life and new obedience that wee have rendred our selves to be his For of all those that came to CHRIST in the Gospell none went away as they came and they that are truly in him get vertue from him which workes in them the similitude of his owne life so as this meditation O my soule doth properly spread it selfe into two branches First the glorious priviledges and comforts wee receive by our adoption and then our most bounden duties to our most gracious God for the same There is a naturall adoption which is defined to be a lawfull act imitating nature found out for the comfort of them who have no children of their owne but this spirituall adoption of us differs farre from it For it is a lawfull act transcending nature found out by the Lord our God for the comfort of children that want a father Wee being by nature miserable Orphans having no father to provide for us It pleased the Lord our God to become our father in Christ and to make us his sonnes and daughters by adoption not for any benefit he receives of us for nothing can arise by the meanes of any creature to that most high and alsufficient Majestie but that hee might have some upon whom to bestow his benefits for the declaration of the glory of his rich mercy Yet both adoptions agree in this that they flow from the pleasure and goodnesse of the adoptant and that there are given to him that is adopted the priviledges of a son which by nature he hath not but where the naturall adoptant cannot change the nature of the partie adopted It is otherwise with us For if God by the grace of adoption make us his sonnes he will also by the grace of regeneration make us new creatures and therefore whosoever continues in sinne cannot challeng any interest in this divine priviledge only the sanctified are entitled to it Here also let us to our unspeakable comfort observe that the sonnes of God know most certainly that God is become their heavenly Father For in this that they are taught of God by his owne spirit to acknowledge him and call upon him with boldnesse as upon their father they cannot be deceived of their generation but with more freedome of spirit yea and surer knowledge they call God their Father then any son of the world is able to call upon his earthly Father Here also we are taught that we cannot pray unto God but by the spirit of adoption who is the parent that begets prayer as the mother who conceives it is the humble and contrite heart For no proud uncleane or hard heart can pray unto God And certainly unlesse the holy spirit testifie unto us that God is our father and hath made us his children wee dare not goe neere him to crave good things from him and therefore herein appeareth the Fatherly indulgence of our God towards us We are here in the valley of death in heavines through continuall afflictions and temptations The time is not yet come wherin the Lord will communicate unto us his glorious presence to fil us with that fulnes of joy which is in that blessed vision The time is not yet come wherein we must ascend to our father yet to keep us in the meane time that wee faint not the Lord hath sent down his holy spirit into our hearts to comfort us O fatherly care O wonderfull love That spirit the comforter descended once according to CHRISTS promise upon the Apostles in a visible manner and doth daily descend in a secret and invisible manner into the hearts of the godly lest the children of the marriage chamber should be swallowed up with heavines through the want of their Bridegroome And this glorious Ambassador teacheth us to cry unto God as upon our Father which if we doe with this spirit of adoption it is effectuall enough to draw downe upon us all those blessâ—ngs which the Lord communicates to his children His name shall bee sanctified in us his kingdom shall be advanced in us we shall not want our daily bread he will forgive us all our sins and preserve us that we fall not into temptation and deliver us from evil For all comforts rest under this name of father if we can so call him in faith the riches of his mercies are ours O blessed Lord God what manner of man should I bee in holinesse righteousnesse and heavenly-mindednesse answerable to this high and holy calling and how unworthy a wretch have I shewed my selfe of so great mercy when instead of worshipping fearing loving and obeying this most gracious Lord and heavenly father in all things I have yeelded to the filâ—hy allurements of his and mine owne most malitious and accursed enemy in many vile pollutions of my prophane youth and the many rash indiscretions sinfull neglect of good duties unfruitfulnesse and unthankfulnesse of my after time Here here my soule is a fit opportunity for me to breake out into holy mourning and lamenting for the manifold sinnes and offences of my mispent life past which now appeare the more abominable and heynous in mine eyes when I look back and consider in what strict and precise humiliation with what universall holy obedience dutifulnes and carefull watching over my thoughts words actions I should have walked before this blessed God almighty mine heavenly father whom I have so ungraciously offended O most blessed spirit of adoption God the Holy Ghost most glorious sealer up of my precious salvation looke downe in thine infinite mercies upon my poore humbled and afflicted soule and have compassion upon me Descend ô Lord my God by thy heavenly grace into my heart and purifie and sanctifie it into a holy Temple for thine owne blessed residence for ever to mollifie and melt it into the sighs and teares of true contrition and repentance for the sinnes and iniquities of my life past and then withall to raise it up by faith to see my selfe fully acquitted and discharged from them all in the precious blood-shedding of my deare Lord and Saviour IESUS CHRIST the promised Messiah God in the flesh manifested and so to enable me with the hands of humble and true faith to lay fast hold upon him and his merits for me and upon this blessed priviledge of being in and by him the adopted son of my heavenly father unto the assurance of my finall and everlasting comfort and peace Quickning and strengthning me unto all holy duties all the remaining daies of my earthly pilgrimage whereby to glorifie my heavenly father as I
also appeare with him in Glory Philippians 3.20 For our conversation is in heaven from whence also we looke for the Saviour the Lord Iesus Christ Verse 21. Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himselfe 1 Tim. 4.8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not unto me only but unto them also which love his appearing Titus 3.7 That being justified by his grace we should be made heires according to the hope of eternall life 1 Pet. 5.1 The elders which are amongst you I exhort who am also an elder and a witnesse of the sufferings of CHRIST and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed 2. Feed the flock of God 4. And when the chiefe Shepheard shall appeare yee shall receive a crowne of glory that fadeth not a way 10. But the God of all grace who hath called us into his eternall glory by CHRIST IESUS make you perfect 2 Pet. 1.3 According as his Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertaine unto life and godlin sse through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glorie and vertue 11. For so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdome of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.3 If our Gospell be hid it is hid to them that are lost 4. Jn whom the God of this world hath blinded the eyes of them that believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospell of CHRIST who is the image of God should shine unto them 5. For we preach not our selves but CHRIST IESUS the Lord 6. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of IESUS CHRIST 7. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellencie of the power may be of God and not of us The sixth Meditation NOw my soul are we by Gods mercy come to the sixth and uppermost step propounded to us in these our meditations namely to â—onsider how rich and stately a thing it is to be an heire of glory And this indeed must needs be the most high and transcendent priviledge of all that can bee bestowed upon the children of men who being by nature children of wrath and in bondage to sinne death and damnation are by grace brought to this most blessed estate of changing sinne into righteousnesse death into life and hell and damnation into heaven and glory And how comes this blessed worke to bee effected for us most unworthy wretches but onely by that most blessed Saviour and redeemer of ours God in the flesh manifested who brought us up the first step of these our meditations and so from steppe to step all along to this the highest of heavenly glory For hee is the onely naturall sonne of GOD and thereby the onely proper and immediate heire to that blessed inheritance whereunto hee hath a twofold right one by his eternall generation and so hee is the heire of his Fathers Kingdome in a manner proper and peculiar to himselfe alone The other right hee hath by purchase for by the merit of his precious death and passion hee hath purchased eternall liâ—e for all the members of his Churcâ— whom having espoused unto himselfe by grace wee also by that â—lessed union with him became heires annexed with him of the same glory In the first right he can admit no companion in the second all the members of his mysticall body are made partakers with him O my soul what shall we say to this transcendent dignitie of all truly penitent believers but as the Psalmist saith Psalme 87.3 glorious things are spoken of thee ô thou Citie of God so may we say of every citizen of the holy City new Ierusalem the Lambs wife Rev. 21.3 For God will dwell with them and they shall bee his people and God himselfe shall bee with them and be their God 4. and God shall wipe away all their teares from their eyes and there shall bee no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there bee any more paine For Psalme 144.15 Blessed are those people whose God is the Lord and are called to this happie fellowship and union with him who is the king of Saints O my soul come let us with all humble reverence heartily love and adore the Lord who hath of his free grace made us partakers of this unspeakable mercy let us rejoyce and bee glad in the Lord and let my heart and mouth be filled with his praises for ever For Esay 1.9 except the Lord had reserved mercy for us wee had beene made like unto Sodome and Gomorah whereas by this blessed Saviour of ours our most gracious Lord and husband the lots are fallen unto us in pleasant places and we have a faire heritage Blessed be the God of our salvation for ever and ever And although all the adopted children of God members of Christ are heires of this glorious inheritance yet is not the same diminished to any one of them for the rich portion of one shall bee no prejudice to another but every one shall bee filled with the fulnesse of the glory of God But withall we are to observe that howsoever in earthly inheritances the father must first die before the sonne come to the full possession thereof yet for this heavenly inheritance wee our selves must first die that wee may possesse the same For our Father is the ancient of dayes the heavens are the worke of his hands they shall perish but hee doth remaine we all shall wax old as doth a garment but he is the same and his yeares shall not faile for he is the Father of eternitie in whom there cannot fall so much as a shadow of change But as for us our condition is such that by suffering death we must enter into the kingdome we cannot see him so long as wee live nor bee satisfied with his image till we awake in the resurrection Therefore should the day of death be a ioyfull day unto us because it is the day of our glorious inheritance Dies mortis aeternae vitae natalis est and as this serves unto us for a speciall comfort in the houre of temptation and day of death so it should provoke us to answer this our heavenly vocation by the holy and heavenly disposition of our minds and affections whiles we live and a gracious and Christian preparation from day to day for the time of our dissolution waiting for it with cheerfulnesse and joy Seeing we are the sonnes of God shall wee not make it our studie and care to use all blessed meanes for renewing his image in us which our former sins have defaced and to serve him in holines and righteousnes all the
remaining daies of our life seeing we are called to be heires of an heavenly inheritance shall we any longer minde and affect earthly things nay rather with the holy Apostle Philip. 3.8 9. Let us accompt all things to bee but dung in respect of the excellent knowledge and fellowship of the Lord IESUS Seeing CHRIST must be our comfort in death when all other comforts will forsake us let us make him out joy and pleasure and our portion in this life and so shall he be both in life and death an advantage unto us O most gracious Lord God and our mercifull heavenly father give us grace we most humbly beseech thee seriously to consider of this high calling of ours being by adoption made thy children members of CHRIST and heires annexed with him of glory of rebels and slaves of Sathan made the happie servants of our blessed Redeemer nay more then so his friends Iohn 14.15 Henceforth call I you no more servants but friends yea more then friends for he hath made us his brethren Heb. 2.11 He that sanctifieth and they which are sanctified are all one wherefore hee is not ashamed to call them brethren O transcendent and wonderfull comfort God the Father cries from heaven This is my beloved sonne in whom I am well pleased heare him The Sonne againe speaking unto us here on earth saith Iohn 20.17 I ascend unto my Father and to your Father and to my God and your God He that is my God and my Father is also your Father and your God Therefore goe ye unto him and with confidence cal upon him as your Father and your God and hee will heare you and helpe you O most glorious and most merciful heavenly Father confirm us more and more in the assurance of thy eternall love free grace and unchangeable mercies towards us in Christ Iesu that in lively sense and inward assurance thereof wee may with comfort and cheerfulnes waite for love and long for his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 for our deliverance from this bondage of corruption and receiving of us to himselfe in glory To whom with thee O Father of mercies and God the Holy Ghost most holy glorious and ever blessed Trinitie in the unity of one only true and everliving God of incomprehensible glorious essence and most adored and coeternall Majestie be all glory praise dominion and thankesgiving ascribed for ever and ever Amen Amen Amen FOR A Seventh MEDITATION OF MOUNT TABOR NOw my soule having by our most gratious GODS fatherly indulgence and mercie had time and beene enabled though with much humane weaknesse to consider distinctly and severally of those sixe maine points of meditation propounded unto us for Mount Tabor the same indeed comprehending all manner of spirituall comforts and refreshings for the Christian soule wee are by course and order come to a seventh stepp which very name puts mee in minde of the seventh day of our weeke the fittest of all the rest for heavenly contemplations Almightie GOD after his six daies worke of wonder in the creation of the visible World consecrating the seventh day for a holy rest to himselfe and for his owne immediate worship and service which was the Iewes Sabbath and the glorious resurrection of God the Sonne manifested in the flesh for the most gracious worke of our redemption being also celebrated in the Church ever the seventh day of the week which is the Christians Sabbath and both of them types of that everlasting Sabbath which the triumphant Church shall celebrate for ever in the kingdome of Heaven The consideration of which particulars might bee a theme large enough and fit enough for a seventh Meditation of Mount Tabor But being sensible of my owne weaknesse I am resolved here to set up my rest and instead and place of this seventh and concluding Meditation of mine to set downe two exercises of this kind heretofore composed by me the one fitting the Christians Sabbath to the worlds end the other a contemplation of the new Ierusalem and heavenly Sabbath world without end recommending the foure other heads of meditation set downe by Master Downâ—m and the twelve priviledges of the faithfull set downe by Master Byfeild as fit arguments for divine contemplations to such as are better able to travell therein no day of the weeke no nor of our whole life being to bee exempted from that most necessary duty of daily renewing our faith and repentance whereof see Downam at large in his Guide to Godlinesse lib. 3. cap. 2. A MEDITATION On the Incarnation and Passion of our most glorious Saviour the Lord Iesus and our blessed union with him alluding to the song of Simeon called Nunc Dimittis SImeon was one of those which waited for the Messiahs comming Israels consolation Whom that himselfe should see before he died was shewed to him from God by revelation And when the Virgin mother brought her Son up to the Temple to present him there Simeon by motion of the Holy Ghost came in and praising God with joyfull cheere The blessed babe with arms he gently claspt about This Swan-like song divinely warbling out O Lord since thou hast let me live to see the Christ thy promised salvation Whom thou hast now prepar'd reveald to be before the face of every nation A saving light unto the Gentiles who in darknesse and in shade of death did dwell The glory and the way of peace unto thine owne beloved people Israel Now lettest thou thy servant blessed Lord Depart in peace according to thy word If Simeon at the sight of Christ a child new come into the world for our salvation That glorious work not then accomplished was yet so wrapt with joy and exultation As disesteeming all the world beside he had no mind of living longer here How then O Lord should I affected be who live in this thy Gospels light so cleare My Saviours acts and sufferings all to see And know the benefit therof belongs to me O thou divine peace-maker how shall I admiâ—e and praise thy mercy infinite That being God our nature wouldst assume and to thy sacred person it unite That so thou being God and man in one 〈◊〉 perfect Mediator might become To God for man who els had perished and without thee beene utterly undone Good Lord how should my soule affected be At this thy wonderfull humility That thou th' almighty maker of the world for by thy word all things at first began Should'st yeeld thy self a creature to become and to be made twise made for sinfull man Made of the blessed Virgin so to take with our fraile nature our infirmities And made under the law to undergo the burthen of our sinnes and miseries How then good Lord should I affected be To this great work of mercy towards me That thou to whom all powers in heaven did bow and thought it their honour to be serviceable Should for us wretched men descend so low as to be born heire in a homely stable Laid in a cratch pursued
and reliefe Amen 14. Vpon the words Hodie mihi cras tibi commonly used for an Embleme of our Mortality I Have often seene painted and set out for an Embleme of our mortalitie a naked boy with a dead skull in his hand sitting upon the ground with this motto subscribed Hodie mihi cras tibi To day for me to morrow for thee In which invention no doubt the Author intended well and right good use may bee made of it by the sober and humble minded that if wee should expect death to morrow wee should bee carefull to spend to day well But lately reading a Treatise intitled Learne to Dye written by that holy man of God Doctor Sutton and published Anno 1626. in the 3. Chap. and 28. page I found these words Thy neighbours fire cannot but give warning of approaching flames mihi heri tibi hodie yesterday for me to day for thee saith the wiseman whose turn is next God only knows who knowes all Wherupon finding those words differing from the motto of the old embleme I turned to the place there vouched Eccl. 38.22 and found the Doctors words agree with the text which faith Remember my judgement for thine also shall bee so yesterday for mee and to day for thee which saying brings the remembrance of death and judgement neerer home unto us as to be thought upon to day and not put off till to morrow for it is the tempters suggestion that cries Cras cras to have our conversation put off till to morrow well knowing the old saying Qui non est hodie cras minus aptus erit whereas the spirit of grace saith Heb. 3.7 To day if if you will heare his voice harden not your hearts least there be no after entring into his rest O blessed Lord what a little distance of time is between to day and to morrow and yet what weightie consequence depends upon it when it may so fall out that if wee use to day as the Holy Ghost requires we may be in heaven to morrow if we defer till to morrow we shall never come thither O most gracious Lord God who callest upon us to day not to harden our hearts mollifie them now even now O Lord by thy powerfull spirit of grace that being truly converted unto thee in this our day we may be for ever delivered from the law and bondage of sin and from henceforth become the true and faithfull servants of righteousnesse and so daily waiting for thy blessed call may be graciously fitted and prepared every day with comfort and humble confidence and thankefulnes to deliver up our soules into thy blessed arms of peace through Iesus Christ our most glorious Saviour and only peacemaker Amen 15. Vpon the observing of a Grave-stone in Pauls London REading over a Christian meditation of death in French upon the 12. verse of the 90. Psalme So teach us to number our dayes c. written by Francis Lansberque and reprinted the third time Anno 1624 I observed a place pag. 136. where the Author reprooving the vanity of some men that even when they are a dying take care of eternizing their names by sumptuous tombs and pompous burials instead of vertuous and honourable actions in their life-time hath a passage in these very words Poore bones and stinking prey of wormes what doth all this availe you you seek to eternize your name in things of frailtie and in forgetfulnesse it selfe to preserve your perpetuall memorie Thinke I pray you that the very stones which cover your rotten bones have their old age that the brasse and Iron of your graves will be eaten with rust that the magnificent inscriptions are by little and little worne out by the feet of those who walke over you Believe you not this goe to the Church and if you be not blinde you shall see this made good Which words pointing me as it were to Pauls for the proofe of that is there alleadged it brings to my minde an observation of mine owne concerning a grave-stone in that Church as if it had beene one of those very stones which the first author intended For at my first comming to London about fiftie yeares since I observed a very faire and large grave-stone of a brownish colour in the pavement of the middle walke of the body of that Church betweene the two pillars next the staires that goe up into the chancell wherein at the upper end therof was an inscription engraven in the stone in old Latine letters which I could then perfectly reade in these words Non aspecies hominem ultra and in the midst or heart of the stone this one word oblivio engraven in much larger and deeper letters About thirty years after I found out the same stone removed into another place in the same walk but the upper inscription so utterly worn out that I should hardly have knowne it but by that other word in the middle of the stone the letters whereof were about seven or eight inches long and that word oblivio was then to be read though it may bee worne out also by this time This observation of mine besides that it is a demonstrative proof of the French Authors proposition toâ—ching the decay and wearing out of such kind of monuments whereby wee seeke to perpetuate our memories may also bee the precedent of a strange kinde of Epitaph far differing from those large inscriptions approved by the Author this serving every mans turne and shewing us all what the greatest of us be when we once are dead covered with oblivion and never in this world to be seene againe And this meditation doth properly joyne with that forreigne author in producing this use of instruction for us all to leave those vaine and pompous follies and to draw neere in time before we go hence to get our names written in the Lambs booke of life in heaven and then we shall be sure to have an eternall name indeed amongst all the Saints and Angels for ever O blessed Lord for thine holy names sake guide us by thy spirit in that blessed way of grace whiles we live that we may be assuredly thine when we die and then how meane soever our names or Tombes be here we shall be sure to be raised againe unto glory to celebrate and praise thy holy and blessed name in the land of the living for evermore Amen 16. Vpon a short Inscription upon a great mans Tombe I Observed upon a tombe where lay interred one in Barons robes this short inscription Fuimus which puts every reader noble or of meane condition young or old in minde that howsoever wee are yet declining sum or sumus in the present tense ere long we must come to fui or fuimus the preterperfect tense as well as those that are gone before us and this gives us a proper lesson of our mortality and if we enquire further what was the honour high place or dignitie of those that are gone to the grave take but the least
great Clock in Westminster Palace THis Clock strikes foure and twentie times a day And every striking shewes one hower is past Thus houre by houre our daies do weare away And one those houres must shortly be our last But which we know not that poore sinners we In faith repentance and obedience From houre to houre by grace prepar'd may be For our last houre and happie going hence When our dear Saviour shall call us home in peace And sin death sorrow shall for ever cease 34. Home LOrd Iesu keepe my heart which by thy grace would faine keep thee excluding all beside O let thy spirit sanctifie the place and by his sacred influence still rule and guide My thoughts words actions studies and desires To heaven-ward whereto my soule aspires For thence it came I have no home but there and thitherward am travelling as I may A sojourner and wearied pilgrim here waiting my calling home from day to day Till mine appointed time of change shall come And thou dear Lord my soul shall welcome home Meane while thy grace increase my faith in thee with true repentance and obedience That these thy graces may abound in me and I may die in them when I go hence And so by grace prepar'd as I should be Sweet Saviour receive my Soule in peace to thee 35. A Dialogue betweene an old sick man and his neighbour visiting him Q. HOw do you Sir A. I praise God never better Because I never was so neere my home Q. What home mean yoâ— nature to death is debtor And old or young we all must thither come A. True deâ—th the common passage is betweene This mortall life and that which lasts for ever The body carries th' immortall soule unseene Along with it so far but their they sever The bodie dies the soule to heaven straight From whence it came and where its dwelling is And that 's the home I meane for which I waite The glorious mansions of eternall blisse Q But ere you can get thither you must die A. My body must indeed but that 's not I. Q. And should the bodies death so slighted be The king of terrour to all living things A. I slight not death Gods messenger is he And therefore welcome and good newes he brings T'uncloath me of this body that I may Be cloath'd upon with immortalitie And so brought home to dwell in heaven for ayâ— In glorious joyes and true felicitie And though death laies my bodie in the dust As if I never should behold it more Yet rise it shall and he restore it must In better plight then ere it was before The sooner I get home the better then Sweet Iesus take me home in peace Q. Amen 36. A Hymne for Christmas-day Gloria in excelsis Deo ALL glory be to God on high and peace on earth good will to men This was the Chore of Angels song at Iesus birth in Bethlehem For then the eternall sonne of God became the blessed virgins sonne God manifested in the flesh to save mankind els quite undone Come let us magnifie his name with Angels and Archangels still And sing All glory be to God and peace on earth to men good-will For by this worke of God made man both th' heavens and earth have cause of joy The heavens new glory have thereby the earth doth heavenly peace enjoy And both from Gods good will to man for loe this blessed heavenly child Hath sinfull Adam and his race redeem'd and to his Father reconcil'd Come let us magnifie his name with Angels and Archangels then And sing all glory be to God and peace on earth good will to man This babe though cradled in a cratch was yet the King of glory borne And came from heaven man to save who otherwise had beene forlorne He is our only peace on earth the conscience pacifier here He is our glory in the heavens our blessed glorifier there Come then above all creatures we should sing this Angels Antheme still All glory be to God on high and peace on earth to men good will But first from men on earth below should glory mount to God on high Then God from heaven would shower downe peace to men on earth abundantly For God being now at peace with man through Christ the Lord both God and man The heavens and earth are likewise friends as 't was when first the world began Come let us magnifie his name with Angels and Archangels then And sing All glory be to God and peace on earth good-will to men O what transcendent love was this of that great God to poore mankinde When men and Angels both were falne God tooke man up left them behinde And that man might be quit from hell and brought to heavens glorious blisse The Prince of heaven man became was ever mercy like to this Come then and let us praise his name with Angels and Archangels still And give God glory in the highest that shâ—wed to man such high good-will To thee O most Almighty Lord most holy gâ—â—â—ious Trinitie The Father Goâ—â—â—d Holy Ghost in ever blessed nâ—â—e From hearts and soules and all our powers all glory prâ—â—â—e â—â—â—nksgiving be As in beginning was is now and shall to all eternitie For Christ the Lord our Iesus borne at time prâ—fixt in Betâ—lehem Let heâ—ven and earth with all their hosts come joyne with us and say Amen A Prayer and Meditation for my wife and my selfe to joyne together she being in the 67. year of her age and I â—n the 74. of mine and both full of bodily infirmities for our daily waiting for the blessed houre of our dissolution 1 HEre at thy foot-stool blessed Lord do we â—calâ— Thy weak unworthy servants wait thy gracious Our work draws to an end and now we come to thee Whose blessed will is so declared we shall Blesse this our waiting time and by thy grace Support us joyfully to end our race 2 For thou already hast of thy good will In truth and mercy us espous'd to thee Although the mariage day must rest untill This mortall puts on immortality Meane while thou hast thy holy spirit us given To guide us all along our way to heaven 3 Whose sacred hand within the first degree Of life eternall hath already brought us â— Vniting us renewed by grace to thee Most glorious Saviour who hast deerly bought us And by this first degree assures the rest To make us finally for ever blest 4. The second step to lifes eternitie Is by deaths passage which we now attend Where laying down all our mortalitie Our soules by Angels conduct shall ascend Members of thy Church thine own espoused wife Into thy palace of eternall life 5. Where we instead of flesh that 's transitory And must be laid to sleep here in the grave Shall have new robes of everlasting glory As all our fellow members there shall have O what a blessed glorious change is this To leave this world for heavens endlesse blisse 6. And yet there rests behind a third degree When these fraile bodies rais'd from death agen Vnto eternall life rejoynd shall be Vnto our soules and glorified with them When all things shall receive their consummation Our soules and bodies both compleat salvation 7. Now whiles we wait in this our pilgrimage When our appointed time of chang shall come Lord Iesu help in this our lifes last stage And our redeemed soules bring safely home To that safe home of thine where al things bee In perfect peace and true securitie 8. For in this life such our corruptions are As hinder when we any good intend But headlong running into every snare To make us our most gracious God offend Vnder this bondage of corruption thus Lye we till thou good Lord deliver us 9. Here then with panting longings after thee Most glorious Saviour for our finall rest With sighs of hope and teares of joy do we Attend thy blessed call to make us blest Call then sweet Iesu when it shall thee please Into thy hands receive our soules in peace Amen Iob 14.14 All the daies of mine appointed time will I waite till my change shall come
the feare of Death and Hell 6 How rich and stately a thing to be heire of glory Say to thy self as Paul to the Corinths 1 Cor. 5.8 Let us feast and be merrie CHRIST hath made us holy-dayes our Paschall Lamb is slain have any more cause to be merrie With these Soliloquies mingle some Ejaculations to Heaven for â—râ—ce and aid and descend not this 〈…〉 till thou findest and feelest thy soule in some cheerly plight revived and warmed with these spirituall Flaggons of Wine in the strength whereof thou mayest walk all the day following And this in plaine termes I call using of faith and living by faith which if thou wilt duely inure thy self unto thou wilt not marvell why I call it ascending Mount Tabor thou wilt stay thy selfe upon good proof It is good to be here daily to be here often to come hither oh that this did as clearly appeare to the world in this matter of faith as it doth in all other habits graces gifts vertues and good things whatsoever that the principall beautie and benefit of them consists in use fruition and action not the bare profession yea the very increase and perfection of them Vse limbs and have limbs The more thou dost the more thou mayest Vse will bring perfectnesse and thorough disuse things perish and come to nothing As the Plough-share laid up rusts and consumes employed glisters doth good and lasts the longer Let any man diligently and throughly improve the greater will be his faith and great comfort it will bring in And againe after the end of the Sermon in his Epistle to the Reader which he purposely then enters and not before it to leave the better impression he hath a farther passage to this effect Let me minister unto thee an Interrogatory or two and answer me in good serious sooth betweene God and thy soul Hast thou and dost thou thy self letting others alone live by faith Proove and examine thyselfe and take for instance this present week or day past wherin thou readest this little Manual How hast thou or usually dost thou spend the day What thought didst thou awake withal what was the morning draught for thy foule next thy heart What hath cheered and made thee merrie in private and in company whether thy sports or thy meales more then the heavenly ejaculations Deale plainly not with me and this Booke which yet shall witnesse against thee if thou refuse to practise it when thou hast read it but with thy selfe Hast not thou challenged some time more or lesse halfe a quarter of an houre at the least in the day for this exercise of thy faith if not as it is neglected by most men not for dayes or weekes but for moneths and yeares let thy heart smite thee for thy folly and say have I lived or rather not lived by consuming pretious time in vanities How commeth it about that the greatest part of my life is the least part wherein I have lived Oh then recover and recollect thy selfe before thou go hence wilt thou die before thou hast lived as boies slabber their books before they have learned their lessons Oh learn to live this life it is never too late it is never I am sure too soone It is no shame for thee to learne it of what age or condition soever thou be The Introduction to my MEDITATIONS OF MOUNT TABOR My work is done I can no longer toyle under the restles cares of worldly things Come then my soul let 's prove another while what sounder comfort thought of heaven brings For here we see by selfe-experience the fruits of this world wheresoe're they grow In Citie Court high place of eminence in Cottages or Countrey shades below Yeeld but the spirits vexation If not confusion Or vanity at best The spirits illusion Then leaving all below let us ascend the sacred Mount of Tabor where we may With humble quiet thoughts attend our Saviours call from day to day For we should now make every day our last not needing or desiring any more If God another to our life shall cast spend it likewise with thanks to him therefore And so being freed from earthly perturbation Make heavens care our daily meditations Waiting the period of our fraile lifes story Vntill his calling of us to himselfe in glory The first Meditation How excellent a thing it is to have all our debts cancelled Places of Scripture shewing how this benefit belongs to us Daniel 9.24 SEaventie weekes are determined upon thy people to finish transgression to make reconciliation for iniquitie and to bring in everlasting righteousnesse and to annoint the most holy vers 25. Messiah the Prince 26. who after sixty two weeks shall be cut off but not for himself â—sayâ— 3.5 He was woundâ—d for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes are we healed Matth â— 2 IESUS seeing their faith said to the sicke of the Palsie sonne be of good comfort thy sins are forgiven thee And undoubtedly saith Bishop Cowper this is a standing sentence spoken not only to this Paralytick but as a generall proclamation to every believer This is my blood of the new Testament which is shed for many Mat. 26. â—â— for the remission of sins I came not to call the righteous Mark â— 17 but sinners to repentance To give knowledge of salvation unto his people for the remission of their sinnes Luke â— â—7 Through the tender mercy of our GOD â—erâ—e â—8 whereby CHRIST the day spring from an high hath visited us To give light to them that sit in darknesse and in the shadow of death Verâ—e â—â— to guide our feet in the way of peace That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations Luke â—4 47 Behold the Lambe of God which taketh away the sins of the world Iohn â— 2â— And he is the propitiation for our sinnes Iohn 13. â— To him give all the Prophets witnesse that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins Acts 10.43 Acts 13.32 We declare unto you glad tydings how that the promise which was made unto the Fathers Verse 33. God hath fulfilled the same to us their children in that he hath raised up IESUS againe Verse 38. Be it knowne unto you therefore that through this man is preached unto you the forgivenesse of sins Verse 39. And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which yee could not be justified by the Law of Moses Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in IESUS CHIRST Verse 25. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousnesse for the remission of sins Heb. 9.26 But now hath he appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself Verse 27. And
Loâ—â— IESUS CHRIST who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospell Heb. 2.14 Forasmuch thâ—â— as tâ—â— children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himselfe â—ook parâ—â—y the same that through death â—eâ— might destroy him that had the power of death that is the divell 1â— and deliver them who through 〈◊〉 were all their life-lifetime subject to bondage Revel 1.18 I am hee that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for ever more Amen and have the keyes of hell and death Revel 2.11 He that overcommeth shall not be hurt of the second death Ioh. 5.24 Verily verily I say unto you he that heareth my words and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life Ioh. 8.51 Verily verily I say unto you if a man keep my sayings he shall never see death Revel 20.6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power The Fifth MEDITATION NOw my soul are we by Gods goodnesse come to the fifth step of these our meditations to consider how full of sweet comfort and contentment the life of him is or ought to bee that lives without feare of death and hell Death being in its owne nature the extreamest of evils in this life the king of terrors to every living thing and hell the most horrible dungeon of everlasting torments to the just feare of both which the wicked of the world are every minute subject None but those children of grace here that are sure of their salvation hereafter can live this pleasant and fearelesse life There is a first and a second death the death of the soule saith Saint Augustine went before in the soules departure from God and the death of the body followed by the soules departing from the body the soule first left God willingly yea wilfully and therefore is compelled unwillingly to leave the body Now from both these deaths are we delivered by the Lord Jesus For our soules being by him freed from sinne are reconciled unto God and so exempt from that wrath to come and from the power of the second death for ever And from the first death we are so delivered from it that albeit in the owne nature it be the center of all miseries and a fearefull effect of Gods curse on man for sinne yet to the godly the nature of it is also changed so as now it is not the death of the man but the death of sinne in the man Death saith Ambrose is the buriall of all vices for it is the progresse and accomplishment of the full mortification of all our earthly members wherein that filthie flux of sinne is dryed up in an instant it as a voluntary sacrificing of the whole man soule and body to the Lord the greatest and the highest service wee can doe to him on earth For where in the course of our life wee are continually fighting against our inordinate lusts and affections to bring them in subjection to Christ by death as it were by one stroke they are all smitten and slaine and the soule is offered up unto God in a sacrifice of full and perfect obedience And though this mortall tabernacle must bee laid to sleepe for a time in the grave which is Gods mâ—â—ld wherein it shall bee new moâ—ldâ—d and f amed fit for heaven yet my blessed Saviour who Romans 4.24 was delivered to death for our offences and was raised againe for our justification hath by his most glorious resurrection blessed be his most holy name not onely already made mee partaker of the first resurrection in this life from the death of sinne by grace and on such the second death â—â—â—h no power but hath also by my blessed union with him as one of the sanctified members of that mysticall body whereof himselfe is the glorious head assured mee of my bodies resurrection unto glory and peace for ever and that death shall restore it againe in better plight than ever it was before to bee againe reunited unto thee my immortall soule in joynt glory and immortality for ever And what is this fraile body to mee but my closet or inmost garment which I shall no sooner put off but it shall be sure of repose and thou mine enfranchised soule of joy and when I arise neither of you shall faile of glory O then my soule in this confidence and assurance of our finall peace come let us joyne together in this last earthly dutie wee have to performe of offering up unto our most glorious and mercifull heavenly father in the name and mediation of our most blessed Saviour IESUS CHRIST by the gracious assistance of God the Holy Ghost my selfe the whole man soule and body in an humble faithfull voluntary and most obedient and free sacrifice that hee mercifully accepting the same at our hands I may securely quietly patiently nay joyfully and thankfully depart hence in peace unto the God of my salvation Amen Amen The Sixth MEDITATION OF MOUNT TABOR How rich and stately a thing it is to be heire of glory Places of Scripture shewing how this transcendent priviledge belongs unto the faithfull ESay 43.6 Bring my sonnes from farre and my daughters from the ends of the earth 7. Even every one that is called by my name for I have created him for my glory Luk. 12.32 Feare not little flocke for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdome Iohn 12.32 Hee appointed us a Kingdome Psalme 84.11 For the Lord is the sunne and sheild the Lord will give grace and glory Luke 22.29 Therefore I appoint unto you a kingdome as my Father hath appointed unto me 30. that ye may eat and drinke at my table in my kingdome Romans 8.16 The spirit it selfe beareth witnesse with our spirit that wee are the children of GOD. Vers 17. And if Children then heires heires of God and joynt heires with CHRIST if so bee that wee suffer with him that wee may also be glorified together Vers 18. For J reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to bee compared with the glory that shall bee revealed in us 21 Because the creature it self also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the gloriouâ— liberty of the children of God 30 moreover whom hee did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified 2 Cor. 4.17 For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a farre more exceeding and eternall waight of glory Gal. 4.7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son and if a sonne then an heire of God through Christ Eph. 3.6 That the Gentiles should be fellow heires and of the same body and partakers of his promise in CHRIST by the Gospell Col. 3.4 When Christ who is our life shall appeare then shall wee
next the sealing a narrow white border wherein was written in one continued line round about the roome these verses Sith it is uncertaine where death shall us meet And yet most certaine that he follows our feet In all our waies let us be so wise and steady That whersoere he meet us he may find us ready Alas how dull and slow are wee to entertaine this one most necessary Meditation of our owne mortality when in our beds and at our tables in our restings at home or travailes abroad whatsoever we doe whatsoever we see in the cloudes above or the earth or sea below we may observe such a vicissitude of changes and alterations in all creatures and things as might make us expect in ourselvs a change too yet such is our strong forgetfulnes as the complaint of Cyprian one of the ancient Fathers of the Church in his time may be now justly verified against us Nolumus agnoscere quod ignorare non possumus We will not acknowledge that which we cannot possibly but know O blessed Lord God pardon we beseech thee our former negligences and manifold infirmities and by thy grace sanctifie and strengthen us to consider so seriously of our owne fraile condition that since every day that goeth over our heads may be our last we may live so graciously prepared both at home and abroad from day to day as needing no morrow and then where or whensoever death shall meet us our redeemed soules may welcome him as the porter sent to open heaven gates for us for our finall and everlasting peace through Iesus Christ our most blessed Saviour and peacemaker Amen 11 Vpon a pedegree found in a private mans house GOing with one of mine honest neighbours in a Towne within the Marches of Wales to see a house which hee had new built there when wee came into the parlour as the best roome I observed a table hanging over the mantletree of the chimney with two columnes of Pedegrees crowned on either side one The one column containing a pedegree or descent from the princes of south Wales the other from the ancient princes of north Wales and from both those descents the pedegree was deduced and concluded in the foot of the table with the name of the good man of the house as lineally descended from those two ancient Princes the lines of their principalities being cut off two hundred yeares before At the sight whereof I bethought my selfe what a strange and poore bragge it was for this meane neighbour of mine to fetch his pedegree from Princes when it might happen that the Smith or the Shoomaker should take place above him in all the publike meetings in the Towne till withall I considered that there is not so contemptible a wretch in the world but if he could deduce his pedegree high enough would bee found of kin to nobles and the greatest Lord if his pedegree were set forth in all the collaterall lines and branches thereof should be found to have meane or poore creatures of his kindred or allyance It being certaine that wee all are one mans children all sprung from Adam by nature who was made of the clay or dust of the earth Genesis 2.7 and hee and his posterity to returne to earth and dust againe Genesis 3.19 From hence wee may observe the vanities of this transitory world and the glory of it which howsoever it differenceth betweene one and another whiles they are living yet when we turne againe into our dust there is no such inequalitie for there is no disparity in death and no difference at all betweene the delicatest Lady and the fowlest kitchin-stuffe when they lye both in their dust Mors Sceptra ligonibus aequat And it may be observed that many gallants which have boasted of their great blood by many descents of gentrie have by their pride and foolery wasted the great estate which their frugall ancestors left them and then may come to sit below the Smith or the Shoomaker with this goodman who could fetch his pedegree from Princes Since therefore every man none excepted in his best estate is but vanitie Psa 39.5 this should teach us to be humble in our selves and as wee know more wickednesse and corruption in our selves then we can doe in others so in lowlinesse of minde to esteeme others better then our selves as the Apostle requireth Thâ—l 2.3 which would be a good meane to avoid contention and vain glory O blessed Lord God have mercy upon us poore wretches that have nothing in our selves from nature but dust and corruption and give us a new birth and generatiâ—n by thy holy spirit of grace which only can truly enable us making us thy children by adoption in Christ Iesus and heires with him in the kingdome of heaven Amen 12. Vpon a pedegree seene in a Noble-mans house LVmley Castle in the Countie Palatine of Duresme was built by that noble and worthy Lord John Lord Lumley after the manner of some Castles hee had observed in his travailes beyond the seas with two faire passages into it up two paire of staires large but short both standing the one over against the other at the lower end of the Hall all the rest of the maine roomes being of the same floare equall with the Hall the most eminent roome whereof at the upper end of the Hall being the great Chamber was adorned with the pictures of all the Barons of that family in their robes at full length beginning with the first who was set forth kneeling before King Richard the second and receiving his Writ or Patent of creation at his hands and so from one to another to that Noble-man himselfe that built the house with the picture also of his Lordships sonne and heire apparent then a young man with a Hawke on his fist In that faire chamber at the upper end of it in a Bay window I observed a long Table hanging fitting the one end of the window containing a faire written or painted Pedegree setting out not onely how the Barons of that house succeeded one another but also how the first Baron was lineally descended from Adam himselfe But hee that lived to build the house and to adorne it with such Monuments of Noble Ancestors from so high a descent as the very Creation of the World and having a sonne then living like to have succeeded him in the Barronie dyed himselfe childlesse in Queen Elizabeths time and so the Barony dyed with him and there was no Lord Lumley to entertaine King Iames there at his first comming into England upon her Majesties decease and so that pedegree which I know not by what heraldry brought that worthy nobleman by many generations of Kings and Queenes and other famous ancestors by a lineall descent from Adam himself could not deduce it one descent further but it ends in him for whose honour it selfe was devised And that noble Lord when he was at the highest of the pedegree what could hee finde there of Nobility
without this wisdome to salvation which wee are here exhorted unto The feare of God is the beginning of wisdome for this wisdome dwells not with wicked men This is not every mans wish or desire The most affect worser things some worldly honour some earthly riches some sensuall pleasure but few that look after this heavenly Kingdome all for the body none for the soule as if we had no soules to save and therefore the Holy Ghost stirres us up to bee wise that wee may understand which is the next part of the matter propounded understanding What do we not understand already yes but wee understand not what belongs to our peace and as wee should understand unto salvation It were a great steppe to grace that wee had so much understanding of GOD as the honest Heathen had who by their understanding and reason kept themselves from grosse sinnes intemperance injustice anger distempered passions and kept themselves in just dealing with others and a tranquillitie of minde to themselves But wee come short of the fowles for the Stork knowes her appointed times and of the beasts for the Oxe knowes his Master but wee know not our maker and even in the least of creeping things the Ant provides in Summer what must keepe her in Winter and wee should bee likewise to gather here what should be needful for us at our going hence In every man and woman God hath infused a reasonable soule and in every soule hath set up a Candle the light of reason to guide the understanding and when we commit sinne this candle is for the time smothered betweene Sathan and our owne corruption or else wee should not sinn with the greedines we doe How can yee say that the man hath reason that drinkes himselfe into a beast when no beast will be so intemperate How doth the Gallant understand himselfe when he layes his life to pawne nay his soule with his life in a triviall quarrell What reason hath the blasphemer for his swearing or the adulterer for hunting the houses of death Surely if our understanding were cleare as God made it we should never sinne and therefore it is not without a cause that Gods children are wished here to bee wise and to understand that so wee may consider our later end which is the object aime and end of all our wisdome and understanding and so we come to the last part Is there then so great wisdome and understanding to know that we must all die we all know that well enough Oh but to consider this that is so well known as we should is a point of highest wisdome and deepest understanding to know it so as to consider it as it ought to bee considered is a point of absolute necessity to him that will have any care of his salvation To consider our later end is so to judge of earthly things that they may helpe us to a blessed end for finis coronat opus and hee that remembers his later end as hee should doe shall never sinne as the wise man saith It will be a scar-crow to him to keepe him from sinne when he considers of it and himselfe as he should doe Who is he amongst us all that doth consider of Gods blessings heaped upon us as he ought to doe He might have made us insensible creatures as stones in the wall onely vegetative creatures as trees or herbes sensible creatures as Todes or the like But he hath made us reasonable creatures and that not Indians and Turkes to worship the Divell and the murtherer Mahomet instead of GOD but Christians and amongst them not Idolaters and Schismaticks but bred up with the sincere milke of the Word of GOD in the purest Church that God hath now in the whole world O who is then a wise and understanding man that will not consider this to advance and magnifie the goodnesse of the Lord unto him who by so many steps of mercy and goodnesse hath advanced him above all the creatures of the world And as this consideration should moove us to thankfulnesse to GOD so it would keepe us in obedience towards him for to what end have wee all these preferments from God but that we should remember to glorifie him that hath bestowed them and to fit our selves for that future glory which hee hath reserved for us at our later end Oh then that they would be wise and understand and consider their later end their later end that is their death that they must die consider it as wel as know it and so wisely provide for that which cannot be avoided Death shall gnaw them as sheepe saith the Prophet David as sheep doth the grasse some now some anone the whole pasture over in a while and then as the fresh grass springs up so death comes over againe and crops it yet still the root remaines there is a root of eternitie which death cannot take from us but how soone we shall be cropt off by death no man knowes we may reckon of years and perhaps not live a weeke or a day nay this night the sheet that covers thee may be thy winding sheet before to morrow What manner of men should we be in holines and righteousnes of life if wee did thus consider of death and how much doth it concerne us to consider and prepare for our later end which is so uncertaine unto us All worldly things honour riches pleasures nay life it selfe hath an end but that end is not the end of us there is something else to bee considered in that word namely what followeth that end and that is judgement for the same day wee dye are wee brought to judgement and called to the strictest accompt that can possibly bee imagined not to answer for our owne sinnes alone but for Adams and for our corruption which came from him and for the sinnes of those that shall come after us whom our ill example or neglect of instruction hath corrupted and not for deeds alone but for words also and not for wicked and sinfull words but for idle words even for every idle word and for our very thoughts O Lord what shall wee sinfull wretches doe when we come to this accompt who let us take as much care as wee can of our words even in our prayers and best devotions yet we shall shew our imperfections and weaknesses even then how great then is the numberlesse number of our iniquities when they shall bee gathered together into one totall how should wee answer for one of a thousand let us then consider seriously of this great and strict accompt and provide our selves of a Saviour that may cover our misdeeds and the errours of our words and thoughts that they may not bee imputed unto us in that judgement From which consideration of a judgement there may be also further considered that there is a Hell a place of torment where the wicked shall have their particular being with the Divell and his Angels whom they served in this
though by the childes reading as if the Lord by her had spoken them to my selfe a paralytick and a sinner as that sicke-man was who for ought appeares in the Text expected only the cure of his bodily infirmity when behold the gracious redeemer of the World who is wont to give more unto us then we desire or deserve begins first with the cure of the soule by remitting his sins and then cures the body afterwards O most blessed Saviour those words of grace which thou didst vouchsafe to that sicke man not desâ—ring it speake thou of thy rich mercy by thy holy Spirit to my sinne-sicke soule which most humbly beggs it at thy most mercifull hands My soule is grievously sicke in the sight of my sins sence of the wrath of my displeased God and desert of hell and utter condemnation But Lord speake these words only unto me and my soule shall live for Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me whole O Lord heale my soule for I have sinned against thee As for my bodily infirmitie which thou as the chastisement of a loving and merciful father hast laid upon me to weane me from the world and for my better preparation against the time of my dissolution by it I do with all humble thankfulnesse and dutifull obedience submit my selfe thereunto therein But my humble and earnest suite is for mercy mercie good Lord for the cure of my Soule by the pardoning of my sinnes O Blessed Saviour speake those gracious words to mee one Paralyticke more Sonne bee of good comfort thy sinnes are forgiven thee that being absolved from them all by thee in this life who hast already fully satisfied divine justice for them all J may when that houre of my departure commeth with comfort and cherefulnes deliver up my redeemed soule into thy blessed armes of mercy in peace Amen Amen 29. Vpon the wâ—rds of a childe intimating the necessitie of my timely preparation for death and heaven IF notice were taken of the speeches which sometimes fâ—ll from children I am perswaded great use might bee made thereof by those of ripe yeares for their instruction and good which I lately observed in a short discourse had with my little grand-daughter not yet seven yeares old my selfe being entred into the seventieth yeare of my age and my left side taken with a disease called the dead palsie shee seeing mee to have my left hand rubbed after meals and my left legg rubbed at my going to bed and at my uprising said to me Grandfather this you doe to make that side well nay child said I but to preserve it so long 〈◊〉 shall please God but I looke not to be well till I be in heaven whereunto she replyed in these very words yea grandfather you long to bee there and your leg would faine go to sleepe in the grave In which words how directly doth the childe teach me many things 1. What I should doe long to bee in heaven 2. That there is no passage thither for the soule but by the death of the body 3. That when the body is ready for the grave it is high time for the soule to be longing for heaven 4. That the grave is buâ— the bodies bed to sleepe in for a time 5. Intimating therewith thâ—â— there shall be a time of waking By which five particulars how evident is it Psal 8.2 out of the mouths of very babes and children hath God ordained strength to witnesse his grace and praises to the confounding of the enemy who would suppresse them O most blessed Lord God let my soule first praise thy holy name for giving me those seasonable admonitions from one that comes in a second descent of mine owne loines beseeching thee to blesse those seeds of grace sowen in her heart in these her tender yeares to make and preserve her thy childe of grace all her life long that finally she may be heire of thy glory And then for my selfe O good Lord look graciously upon me thy most unworthy servant who have longed for thy salvation for thou Lord art the thing J long for Psal 71.4 5 8 thou art my hope even from my youth through thee have I been holden up ever since I was borne thou art he that tookest me out of my mothers womb my praises shall be ever of thee O cast me not away in the time of age forsake me not when my stâ—â—â—â—th faileth 10. Go not far from me O God my God haâ—â— thee to hâ—lp me that as this earthly tabernacle d caie daily through old age and infirmities so thy grace may shew it selfe powerfull in my weaknesse to enable me to hunger and thirst after thy righteousnesse in a true desire after sanctification and new obedience for the remainder of my few daies with heartie sorrow and unfained repentance for my sins past and faithfull relying upon thy mercies in Christ for the pardon of them that when I shall leave this house of earth thy blessed Angelâ— may â—onvey my soul into the glorious mansion of peace which I long for and my Saviouâ— hath prepared for me in thy heavenly kingdome Amen 30. Vpon a fight between two Cocks AT Stanwick my son had going with his Hens a young Cock of a stout and large breed with very large Iollops hanging downe on either side of his beake and a friend of his giving him afterwards a Cock and a Hen of the game as they call them the Cocks-combe and jollops being finely cut off close to the head for advantage in fighting It fell out that the two Cocks meeting in the yard together fell close to their fight where the younger Cock fought stoutly a good while till the old Cocke taking advantage of his large Iollops hanging so low tooke hold thereof for raising himselfe to wound the young Cocke at every blow which being observed by the spectators they parted the fray for the present and caused the young Cocks pendant Iollops to be cut off and his head trim'd for the fight as the old Cocks was who had at first so beaten the young Cocke that he durst not stay within his view but after the sores of his Iollops cut were healed the young Cocke comming abroad againe the old Cock ran presently upon him to have made him runne away as he was wont to doe before But the young Cocke turning againe and they falling to a new fight very sharpe and eager on both sides at last the old Cocke finding his old hold of the young Cocks Iollops taken from him was faine to cry creake and to runne away as fast from the young Cocke as the young Cock did from him before and ever after the young Cock was master of the field In this fight of the two Cockes me thinkes I see represented by the old Cocke the old wilie seâ—pent who by subtiltie and advantage taking overcomming our first parents in Paradise as if he were then the Prince of the World sets upon every one of their posteritie to subdue